


The Happiest Family On Earth

by agentsimmons



Series: Yours. Mine. Ours. [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: (are trying to ruin our precious science fam's life), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bisexual Tony Stark, Disney References, Disney World & Disneyland, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Frozen (2013) References, Gay Bruce Banner, International Fanworks Day 2017, Kid Clint Barton, Kid Darcy Lewis, Kid Fic, Kid Jane Foster - Freeform, Kid Loki and Kid Thor, Kid Natasha Romanov, Kid Pietro Maximoff, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson, Kid Steve Rogers, Kid Wanda Maximoff, Large Families, M/M, Misunderstandings, POV Alternating, Parent Bruce Banner, Parent Tony Stark, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Pop Culture, Press and Tabloids, Romantic Fluff, Science Boyfriends, The Supersized Science Family, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 15:41:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9768569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentsimmons/pseuds/agentsimmons
Summary: The supersized science family travel to the happiest place on Earth, where everything is perfectly magical. Well, almost everything.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Happy International Fanworks Day everyone! I debated posting this fic today or yesterday on Valentine's Day, and I'm sure you'll understand why by the end of it. But as, for the most part, it's literally our supersized science family roaming around having the time of their spoiled lives at DisneyWorld, I decided to go with Fanwork Day since it sort of fits the theme I think.
> 
> I will only say this once: Beware the abundance of park-specific references, references to movies, and references to Full House (because how could I not?). ALSO super cheesy fluff ahead because also how could I not in this particular fic?

"You've got to be kidding." Tony looked down at his phone with a scowl. The browser was open to a link Pepper had just texted him.

"What is it?" Tony glanced up to see Bruce looking at him curiously as they waited at the service desk for their room keys.

"Pepper just sent me this," Tony said, moving his phone so that Bruce could see it as well.

Bruce's eyes widened and he looked around the lobby and Tony saw the way his eyes did a head count before looking back. "How? We haven't even made it to our rooms yet. Hell, we haven't even done _anything_ yet."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, well, I guess the paparazzi have come to the conclusion that our exiting an airport in Orlando is riveting stuff worthy of their photographic talents." Then he sighed, closed the gossip site and glanced at their kids. "I'll send Pepper the head's up that we'll need extra aggressive legal over the next week since now the hounds will definitely be out. But if it'll make you feel better we can discuss potential security options with the resort. I wasn't wanting to do the whole celebrity treatment thing, but…" He hitched a shoulder and looked back at Bruce.

Bruce didn't answer and Tony could tell by the crease in his brow that he was deep in thought, probably considering the situation from all angles. "Alright, here are you keys." Their attention was brought back to the woman checking them in. "It looks like everything is in order. We're here to assist you with anything you may need."

"Thank you," Bruce said, taking their keys from her – since Tony definitely had no intention of doing so – and giving her a friendly smile.

"We hope you have a magical stay with us."

"I'm sure we will," Tony replied with one of his media smiles.

With any luck they would definitely have a magical stay, he mused, with a flutter of nervousness in his stomach that he quickly stamped back down, as he and Bruce made their way toward the kids.

"I agree with you," Bruce said, breaking him from his reverie. "I'd rather not make this a celebrity spectacle if we don't have to." He stopped and turned to look at Tony when they had reached the kids. "I just want us to have the same experience here any regular family has, even if it is a bit of a hassle."

Tony smiled. "Then that's what we'll do. I'm sure legal can handle it. And as many people as there are in the park, I'm sure that'll make it easier for us to blend in than having the celebrity treatment call to attention where we're at and what we're doing."

"That's a good point." Bruce then turned and looked at the kids. Tony moved to stand beside him. "And I'm sure our thirteen, well-behaved angels won't do anything newsworthy while we're here," he said with a chuckle.

They all stopped what they were doing and looked at them in sync, eyes wide like they were already guilty of something. Tony glanced at Bruce and then narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"So what have our thirteen, well-behaved angels already gotten themselves up to?" He raised an eyebrow as they gathered in the lobby of the hotel.

"We got buttons!" Jemma answered with a cheery smile as she held up a special button commemorating her first visit to the park. Tony smiled, realizing she'd completely missed the point of the question, or else was already marvelously good at deflection he considered as an afterthought. "Can you pin it on me?" She looked at the button with a small scowl.

"Certainly," Tony said and carefully did so.

"Alright, we've got the room keys," Bruce said while Tony finished pinning the button on, understanding her difficulty as it wouldn't quite stay fastened. "We're going to go up to the rooms and settle in with our stuff. Then we'll assemble to go over the rest of today's itinerary. I don't want to have to ask everyone to walk in a straight line like elementary school," he then said with a slight chuckle in his voice, "but we're practically a small army so let's try not to take up the whole walk way. Also stick close so nobody gets separated." Tony smiled when Jemma took his hand of her own accord to prevent that possibility.

Bruce started the trek to the staircase, the kids falling into somewhat of a line behind him. Tony decided to follow in the rear so he could keep a constant visual of things. Halfway there Wanda suddenly stopped and nearly squealed in excitement, taking them all by surprise since she wasn't typically so vocal in her enthusiasm. They all stopped and looked at her.

"It's the piano from Full House!" she exclaimed and pointed at it.

"Who cares?" Pietro asked. "That show was boring." Wanda practically gave him a death glare. She'd definitely taken with the show a few years prior when Tony introduced it to them. He could only guess it had to do with relating to living in a full house with a single father, at the time. She'd also become quite the fan of Michelle as a character.

"It's not boring," Jane defended countered. "Full House is classic."

"And without it we wouldn't have Fuller House," Darcy agreed.

Tony met Bruce's amused gaze from where he still stood at the front of the pack. Then he said, "How about we get up to our rooms and then we can discuss making time for pictures of it in the schedule."

"Okay," Wanda replied, still eyeing the piano eagerly and alternating her gaze between it and the balcony above.

After the slight detour they managed to make it the rest of the way without any hitches, although there were plenty of 'oohs' and 'ahs' over every little thing. Tony had to suppress a laugh over how intriguing the hotel seemed to be simply because it was new and happened to be at DisneyWorld, when in reality they already lived in a mansion that others would do the same with. In fact, half of the bunch _had_ done that before moving in, he thought with a small chuckle.

The excitement continued when Bruce unlocked the door to their first room, which was technically a one-bedroom suite, and they all piled in to look at it.

"Whoa! Neat!" Harley ran over to the balcony doors and opened them up immediately, Peter following along like his shadow as usual.

"I wonder what channels they get," Clint said as he moved to the television.

"Okay, no," Tony said. "We did not travel all this way and spend all this money for you to watch television."

"Isn't that kind of what college is?" Clint countered with a raised eyebrow. Tony definitely didn't want to think about that very fast approaching reality at the moment. Right now it was about their first major family vacation.

"All of the luggage seems to be here," Bruce said as he inspected all of the tags. "Looks like this is the room that sleeps six so we'll leave you older ones to unpack and fight over who gets the double sleeper."

"Don't make us regret trusting you six with this luxury." Tony pointed at them.

"I'm sure they won't," Bruce said confidently, but Tony also knew well enough by now that it was also a good psychological tactic to remind them that they believed in their ability not to do anything disappointingly bad. "Alright, Jemma through Jane, follow us next door."

The remaining seven kids did just that and they soon found themselves standing in a slightly larger, two bedroom suite, that slept up to eight adults although they'd have to make due with fitting nine people instead. Tony and Bruce had discussed it long and hard and just hadn't felt comfortable with the idea of leaving the younger kids in any of the rooms only chaperoned by an older kid or two. Since they hadn't really planned this trip around their own private time anyhow it seemed reasonable to get a suite big enough that they could supervise the kids under fifteen – and, frankly, Tony had had enough reservations about letting Skye room with the sixteen and older crowd too before Bruce had talked him back into a reasonable frame of mind; she had just finished her first year of high school after all and would only just be right next door. He always found it amusing how they wavered back and forth in their over-protectiveness; when he was being overprotective Bruce was the reasonable one and when Bruce got started Tony usually found a way to bring him around.

"This is so fancy," Jemma said in awe as the kids took in the whole of the suite. "It's like living in an old, fancy house like when Anne was alive."

Bruce moved his eyes around the room and Tony recognized his scrutinizing look immediately. "Well, it's certainly dated," he said with a smile that betrayed his assessment. Tony snorted and took a closer look around the main room of the suite as well. "Okay, so for the sake of fairness we'll rotate who takes the sleeper sofa each night between you. So, you can work it out amongst you which two will sleep on it first. You'll all unpack your stuff in the bedroom though."

"Hey, how come you guys don't have to take the sofa?" Harley asked, looking up at Tony with a dubious expression.

"Um, because us guys paid for this whole trip so us guys get the master bedroom," Tony answered.

"But if it's any consolation," Bruce said, a hand on his chin as he studied the bedroom, or more specifically the beds, "Jemma may have to room with us. So your dad and I might have to share our bed too."

"Yeah," Tony agreed as he did the math, "I'm thinking we definitely will."

 

* * *

 

It felt like they'd been standing in line for hours although in reality it had only been about one. Still, Natasha balked at wasting a whole hour at DisneyWorld just to get a quick photo with actresses dressed up as fictional princesses. Jemma and Darcy, the two most excited to meet these particular two, knew they weren't real so what was the big deal?

"Oh hello!" Natasha had to hold back an eye roll as 'Anna' immediately threw open her arms in greeting when Jemma and Darcy moved forward to take their turn in meeting them. She hugged Jemma while 'Elsa' hugged Darcy. "Oh, you have such a warm hug! Just like my friend Olaf."

"So does this one," the Elsa said with a smile and much more understated enthusiasm.

Anna gasped. "Why, I bet they're sisters just like us!" Natasha's eyes widened and she looked at the others to see similar reactions. "What's your name?"

"It's Jemma," Jemma answered, a little shy all of a sudden.

"And I'm Darcy," Darcy said, not shy at all.

" _Are_ you sisters?" Elsa asked as she took Darcy's autograph book and signed it. "Because we love meeting other sisters."

"Well, kind of," Darcy answered. "She's kind of like my step-sister, only not officially because our dads haven't gotten married yet." She pointed at the rest of them. "That's them and our other sisters and brothers."

"Oh my!" Anna slapped her hands to her cheeks in feigned shock, although Natasha thought it might actually be a little real. "Are _all_ of those your brothers and sisters?" She looked at Elsa who widened her eyes in a comedic way.

"Uh huh!" Darcy chirped. "My dad has six kids and her dad has seven."

"Oh my goodness, Elsa, is that as many as I think it is?" she asked in a tone of exaggerated worry, complete with a gulp.

"Oh, Anna," Elsa said with a shake of her head. "We learned what six plus seven is in school, remember?"

"Well, I remember skipping out of my lessons so I could go talk to the pictures. They got very lonely if I didn't," Anna said and Natasha frowned; spoken just like a Disney princess, she mused. "But I think it makes thirteen."

"It does," Peter called over to her with an exasperated tone.

"Oh my, _thirteen_ ," Anna said. She looked at Jemma with a very serious expression. "Jemma, are you the youngest?" Jemma nodded. "Oh, Elsa," she said looking back at 'her sister' with wide eyes again, "she has twelve older brothers and sisters!"

"Anna, dear, she's not Hans."

"No, I'm not!" Jemma insisted. "I'm not like him at all."

"That's very good," Anna said with a sigh of relief, clutching Jemma's autograph book to her chest. "And you must promise me you'll never, ever, ever become like Hans. Because you seem too nice to be mean like him and if you were I would be very sad. Pinky promise me, Jemma," she said and held out a pinky, "that you won't become mean like Hans. Not even if some of your brothers and sisters pretend you're invisible for two whole years."

"I promise," Jemma said, shaking Anna's pinky with her own. Natasha had to admit that it was kind of adorable.

"Yay! Now let's meet all your brothers and sisters and make them pinky promise they won't pretend you're invisible!"

Natasha's goodwill was immediately squelched as Darcy and Jemma pulled them all over to join in.

 

* * *

 

Jane exited the ride, dizzy from it and elation both.

"Well, how was it?" her dad asked her as soon as they all met up after finishing Mission: Space.

"Oh. My. God." She blinked several times and her smile grew wider. "Oh. My. God!" She jumped up and down, not caring that she was acting like a little kid instead of a fourteen-year-old. "It was so amazing! It was like, so, so intense and _exhilarating_. I want to do it again!"

Her dad smiled and Tony came up beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Then I guess it's a good thing we scheduled enough time for you to ride it again a little bit later."

Jane's eyes widened even more and she jumped up and down again in excitement. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

 

* * *

 

"Who's damn idea was it to come on this ride?" Clint muttered.

"Language," Steve warned him. Their dads had made it clear they needed to respect that there were a lot of young kids around, not to mention potentially judgmental adults. Tony snorted beside him. Or at least his dad had. "But it's a classic. We had to come on it. Everybody rides this ride when they come to Disney."

"Right, it was yours," Clint said in an unimpressed tone.

"Yeah, I'm with Clint on this one," Natasha said and Steve glanced over his shoulder to see her eyes narrowed and darting this way and that. "I feel like these things are just waiting for a chance to suck out our souls." She shivered.

"I think that would actually make this ride more interesting," Wanda said.

"Indubitably," Loki agreed.

"Honestly," Tony said and turned a little in his seat beside Steve to look at the others, "this thing was an engineering feat of its time. Try to show a little bit of respect."

"Dad, please," Wanda countered with a scoff and Tony sighed and turned back around.

"Well, at least one of you enjoys it," he said with a shake of his head. Then he quickly scolded Harley, Peter and Pietro in the seats in front of them. "Hey, don't even think about it. I heard that dare." Steve furrowed his brow because he hadn't heard anything. But clearly Tony had because all three of them slumped their shoulders.

"Actually," Steve said, shaking his head over how dads just somehow knew things – or at least how their dads did – and gave a guilty hitch of his shoulder, "I didn't actually say I'm enjoying it. Just that I think it's a rite of passage." Tony frowned. "Sorry," Steve apologized and glanced around, "but it _is_ kind of awful."

"No, it's iconic and a nice break from standing in lines. Win-win," Tony disagreed.

"Honestly, I think I'd rather be stuck with the long line of kids mooning over princesses right now," Natasha said in reference to the fact that their dad was with Jemma, Darcy, Jane and Skye attempting to meet every single Disney princess they could. They'd even had breakfast at Cinderella's Castle and that night they were all having dinner at a Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant.

"Well, anyone is welcome to tag along when I take over your dad's princess shift," Tony offered as he typed on his phone. "In fact, they're on their way over now."

"I've already suffered through this," Natasha responded dryly. "Why would I survive it just to put myself through fresh hell?"

"Assuming you survive it," Wanda replied with a smirk in her voice that Steve didn't have to turn around to see. He turned anyway, as did Tony. "Or any of us survive it for that matter."

"She makes an excellent observation," Loki agreed, giving his own sharp smile. "Also, if we were at Disneyland once upon a time we could have actually taken a ride through hell." He and Wanda seemed far too eager about that prospect in Steve's opinion.

Tony seemed to share his concern since he said, "Alright, let's dial down the morbidity just a little bit. This isn't hell—"

"Could have fooled me," Clint chirped. "Pretty sure this song is on an endless loop in Hades."

Tony groaned. "And _nothing_ is going to happen to—" At just that moment the ride stopped and there was an accompanying announcement.

"Wanda jinxed us!" Pietro exclaimed.

"Did not!" Wanda cried in defense.

"Okay, okay," Tony said. "Let's not get kicked off the ride."

"How would we be kicked off the ride?" Steve asked in earnest. "We're in a boat and I doubt they would want us traipsing through the displays."

Tony sighed. "You're right, Natasha. Princesses. Give me princesses." He chuckled then. "Well, metaphorically speaking since I already have a prince."

"Ugh," they all groaned at once.

"Can you two just _not_ for one day?" Clint asked. "I mean, seriously?"

"Yeah, dad's not even with us," Loki agreed.

"I think Thor fell asleep," Wanda then said and Steve turned to see her poking at one of his biceps.

The ride started again then, _thankfully_ , because Steve had a feeling Tony would have passed the time going on some more about his dad just to spite them. Soon after it restarted they finally made it to the end of the ride.

"FREEDOM!" Harley shouted dramatically as they made it back outside, throwing his hands up into the air and earning strange looks from passersby.

Tony opened his mouth, but then Steve looked at the others and saw their conspiratorial glances at one another just in time to join in as they all shouted, "FREEDOM!" in unison.

"What's this all about?" Bruce asked as he and the kids who'd been with him approached.

"Take them, Bruce. They're all yours. I want to visit princesses," Tony said, falling into him as if so weary he might faint.

"You're going to have so much fun with the princesses!" Jemma immediately chimed in. "We just met Belle and, and, I got to be in the play and I got a bookmark. See!" She held it up.

"So did I!" Darcy held up hers.

"We all did," Skye explained. "Well, I had to ask for mine since I wasn't in the play," she added with a small laugh. "But it was actually really cool. Somehow they have this mirror that," she air quoted, "'magically transforms into a door that takes you from one building to another." She looked at Tony. "You probably would have figured out the engineering behind it in a heartbeat and ruined it for all of us."

"It's actually pretty clever if my own guess was right," Bruce said with a smile at the man beside him.

"Sounds like it was great. Can't wait to see the newest pictures. So who am I taking you to see next?" Tony asked.

"Food," Pietro said before any of the girls could answer. "Take us to see food!"

Tony looked back at them with one eyebrow raised. "We all got Dole Whips," he glanced at his watch, "not even an hour ago."

"I'm pretty sure I already sweat it off," Thor said, sounding a little tired like maybe he had fallen asleep.

"I can attest to that as you've been getting your sweat on me and everything else all day," Loki added and Steve rolled his eyes at his dramatics. Then as if to judge him for being contrary, his stomach growled traitorously.

He looked back at his dad and Tony. "Yeah, I'm hungry too."

Tony sighed and mumbled, "At this rate we'll spend as much on food while we're here as we did on the tickets and hotel. Alright," he said louder, looking at Bruce, "how about we grab something to eat first and then change guards?"

Bruce opened his mouth to answer, but Skye said, "No way. We've got a FastPass for Ariel at her grotto in like twenty minutes! We need to be in line like, right now."

"I didn't understand any of that," Tony said dryly.

"Translation," Bruce offered with a chuckle, "let's all head over to Ariel's Grotto. The uninterested kids can do the rides that are right there or just hang out while those interested in meeting Ariel can do that. Then," he pulled out his phone and Steve knew he was going through the detailed itinerary he'd been keeping for them, "after that we've got some down time to get something for lunch and trade-off for more princess time before our Mine Train FastPass." He nodded, then quickly added, "Oh, but I overheard some people saying the, uh, PhilharMagic attraction was really neat. How about we do that all together after lunch and then split up?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're overdue your own pick of what we do," Tony said with a laugh. "Especially since I picked pretty much everything we're doing tomorrow."

"Well, you made a couple great picks so I can hardly complain," Bruce countered with a shrug and smile.

Steve sighed and decided to take charge before Skye spazzed, which she looked about two seconds away from doing if her impatient expression was anything to go by. "Hey, dads," he said, startling himself, them, and probably everyone as quickly as they all looked at him. "Uh," he faltered for a second before going with it, "I think Skye said we needed to be in line already so maybe you two can banter while we walk?"

They both looked at each other, wide eyed, for a moment then Tony looked back with a bright smile. He then looked at Skye, who was also wide-eyed. "Well, you heard him. Off to Ariel's… I'm just going to say meet-and-greet because grotto is a strange word and I don't like it." As if nothing at all unusual had happened, Tony linked his hand with Bruce's and led the way.

Steve stood in place for a few seconds, the others looking at him with varying expressions of surprise as they passed. Steve could say he had just meant it as an address to a couple of dads at once, regardless of their relationship to him or each other, but he knew he hadn't.

 

* * *

 

Wanda looked around at the extensive architecture of the restaurant in Beast's Castle as they ate dinner. It was absolutely amazing. So amazing that it reminded her of how odd she sometimes felt.

She loved robots and artificial intelligence, or at least she loved what JARVIS could do. Yet, she was drawn to old stuff too. She loved riding horses and she loved looking at pictures of castles. She loved the hotel they were staying in, not only because of Full House, but because it was like being in a Victorian home. She loved the magic and rich history that it offered.

There was just something romantic about the old world even if she wouldn't want to lose everything about the new. The restaurant was modeled after Beast's Castle so it looked just like the old world of the fairytale. While everyone else seemed to be excited about the food, which _was_ really good, or Jemma and Darcy were awed whenever Beast crossed through the dining room, she couldn't stop from being amazed by how magical it was just to be there at all.

She briefly wondered what it would be like to visit Sokovia just once. She knew from pictures and books and articles that there were still a lot of old world buildings. She knew that the Romani people had greatly influenced the home of her birth parents. Maybe that was why there was a bit of love for magic in her or why Pietro sometimes got really restless. She loved her dad like he'd been hers from the day she was born, and she'd loved her mother too, but sometimes she wondered about the world she would have been born into if not for war and tragedy.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Bruce leaned in and asked her since she sat beside him. "Seems to me like you're pretty lost in them at the moment. Everything okay?"

Wanda smiled at his continuous concern for her, and for all of them. "I was just thinking about how amazing a job they did on replicating the magic of the castle. Everything looks so authentic. I wonder if this is what Sokovia used to look like," she said before she could stop herself.

"Hmm," Bruce looked around in a thoughtful manner, "well it is in Eastern Europe so I imagine at one time it could have. Maybe you could do a project about it for school if you haven't already. Fry for your thoughts instead?" He then held out a fry with a soft, encouraging smile.

Wanda smiled back and took the fry. She wasn't going to turn it down because the others were right, they were so good. But she also wasn't going to turn it down because she loved when Bruce listened to her and loved how he always seemed to know just what to do or say even when he didn't even realize it, although she suspected he usually did even if he never made a big deal about knowing what she needed to hear.

"Oh my god!" Skye cheered from several seats down and Wanda turned her head to look at her sister. She'd already finished her dinner and had gotten a dessert from the dessert cart. "The gray stuff really IS delicious! Dr. B, you need to figure out how to make this."

Bruce looked down at Wanda and she looked up at him, both sharing an impish smile at how enthusiastic Skye tended to get about absolutely everything. Her dad then swiped a bite of Skye's dessert and joined her in her enthusiasm, causing both Wanda and Bruce to snicker a little.

Wanda leaned her head against Bruce's shoulder for a moment, glad for not the first time to have him. Now she had a parent again who was a little more like her than like Skye or Darcy, or even her brothers. Now she didn't feel so much like there was nobody who really understood her.

 

* * *

 

Pietro could barely contain his excitement as they approached the line for The Tower of Terror. Of all the rides he'd been looking forward to, which was pretty much _all_ of the roller coasters and Test Track which had been AWESOME, all capitals definitely needed, The Tower of Terror was at the top of the list. And he'd been talking about it so much that their dads decided they could make it the first stop of the day. Well, the first stop for some of them.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us, babe?" His dad was trying to coax Bruce into joining them. "Our capable new teenager can sit with Darcy and Jemma," he said with a smile at Wanda. Pietro rolled his eyes at her and she scowled back at him until their dad glanced at him with his silent, 'stop now' look. Pietro sighed. He didn't understand why his sister didn't want to ride it when it was sure to be super awesome. Her excuse was that the drop was her least favorite part of roller coasters so why would she want to only ride something that drops? "Or we could opt for child swap," his dad said, looking back at Bruce.

"Fairly certain the brochure said the age policy is only 14 and older can accompany younger kids," Bruce said. "And I am one hundred percent sure, thank you. I can do most roller coasters, but something about this one just doesn't appeal to me."

" _Thank_ you!" Wanda crossed her arms. "You wouldn't want to be in a _real_ elevator suddenly plummeting so why simulate it?"

"Fair point," Bruce agreed. "I've already talked it over with the girls and we're going to see if we can't get into Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Then we can meet up near Toy Story Mania. Sound like a plan?"

"Well, when you put it so succinctly," Tony said and clearly was on the verge of kissing Bruce. Pietro rolled his eyes again. "How can I say no?" Sure enough they kissed quickly and then pulled apart. "Alright. Have fun with more princess time," he said then.

Bruce nodded. "And have a, uh, terrifying time I guess," he said with a chuckle. "Especially you, Pietro. Hope it's as awesome as you've hoped for."

"Thanks!" Pietro beamed. He knew Bruce meant it.

"Alright, let's hurry on over there so we can get a seat," Bruce said and Pietro watched as they walked away from the line.

"Oh well," he said when they were gone. "More terror for us."

"Different strokes for different folks, champ," his dad said.

Pietro furrowed his brow. "Huh?"

"He means stop being a jerk to your sisters for not wanting to simulate falling to their doom, obviously," Clint answered, but how he understood what their dad meant was beyond him.

Tony laughed. "Yeah, something like that I guess."

Pietro just shrugged and went back to being excited for the ride.

 

* * *

 

"Aww man!" Peter complained as the ride came to an end. "Over already?" He and Harley got off and exited, both reluctant. "That was so much fun. I want to ride it again."

"I know!" Harley agreed.

As soon as they found the others who'd already exited the ride, Peter asked, "Dad, can we ride it again?"

"Yeah? Can we?" Harley threw in. "That was so much fun! Like, I thought PhilharMagic was the coolest non-rollercoaster thing we've done so far, but this was way cooler!"

Bruce laughed and said, "It _was_ fun, wasn't it?"

"Okay, now _that_ was awesome," Tony said as he exited the ride with Loki.

"Let's ride it again!" Harley exclaimed. Tony smiled wide at the idea, but then looked at his watch. "Something tells me we don't have time today. But we can make this a repeat stop when we have a little more leisure time later in the week."

"Afraid he's right," Bruce said with an apologetic look. "There's the Beauty and the Beast show soon and then right after that we've got the Frozen show. Then we'll need to do lunch if we want to fit in the Indiana Jones show before our Rockin' Roller Coaster and Star Wars passes."

Peter groaned. "Not _more_ princesses."

"Well, I think there might be time to fit in some repeats after dinner and before Fantasmic," Bruce offered.

"But I wanted to do Tower of Terror at night," Pietro said. "Dad already promised I could if there's time."

Tony sighed. "He's right. I did."

"I think it’s clear we should just split up like we did yesterday,” Loki said in a bored tone. Peter smiled hopefully at the idea.

“Well, I was hoping we could spend most of the day together like we did at Epcot,” Bruce said with a sigh.

“Actually,” Thor chimed in, “I think you and Tony should do a few things by yourself while we’re here.”

Peter scrunched his face in confusion and his dad narrowed his eyes. “Well, that’s not at all suspicious,” Bruce said, glancing at Tony as he did.

“I just mean that we’re at the happiest place on Earth and you both deserve to spend some time together having crazy fun just the two of you.”

Tony laughed. “You think we’re going to leave thirteen kids unsupervised just so we can go run around like a couple of teenagers—” He stopped short and gave a considering look.

"No," Bruce said, like he already knew what he was thinking.

"We should at least consider it," Tony said. "After all, we're in the same park and as long as they split up with the older kids as chaperones and we have regular intervals of check-ins by text, I really don't see how it could hurt."

"I don't know," Bruce said, but he'd paused long enough that Peter was hopeful Tony would win this one and he'd get to do Toy Story Mania some more. "What about the potential paparazzi?"

Peter winced and lost some of his hopefulness. He kept one eye closed as he looked over at his dad and then Tony.

"Well, they'll probably spin it any way they want," Tony said with a shrug. "And it's not like we're just letting them roam free. We wouldn't even be breaking the park policy like you pointed out earlier so at the very least we're not any more irresponsible than Disney allows us to be."

Bruce snorted. "Okay, that's your argument?" He looked at Tony with an expression of disbelief. "That because Disney allows us to be irresponsible it's A-Okay? By that reasoning our kids can also sell their souls to sea witches or run away to join the military as a different gender."

"Aww man," Clint sighed dramatically, "and here I was looking forward to doing that."

"Which one?" Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Either sounds like fun," Clint answered with a shrug.

"Look, Bruce," Tony said after giving Clint an amused look, "if you say no again, then okay the answer is no. But I strongly believe this is one of those times we might want to ease up just a little bit on the overprotective thing and trust our kids. And I'm not just saying that because we could ride the Great American Movie ride none of the kids want to ride, or one of the other Star Wars ones we couldn't fit into the itinerary. I'm saying it because I think they'll be safe and I think they'll have more fun which is kind of the whole point here. At the very least we should compromise and split up again into two groups like yesterday."

"Come on, dad," Loki chimed in again. "It's really not complicated. Steve and I can accompany the ones who want to go to the stage shows and Clint and Thor can accompany the ones who want to do the rides some more. You and Tony can then go frolic to your hearts' content." He fluttered his hands in a sweeping motion.

"Ew, let's hope they don't do _that_ ," Skye teased with a snort.

Bruce huffed. "Is that what everyone really wants?" He looked around at them. "Because if anyone is uncomfortable with it, that's okay."

"Daddy," Jemma said with a shake of her head and in a matter-of-fact tone, "even I don't care if you and Tony go play without us as long as I get to see Anna and Elsa again."

Everyone laughed and then looked at Bruce. "Alright," he said with a sigh before laughing too. "I guess I'll concede this one."

"Yes!" Peter fist pumped and then high-fived Harley.

 

* * *

 

 

"Hell yeah, now _that's_ my kind of princess," Natasha said as the stunt woman portraying Marion pretend she was laying into some unsuspecting extra.

"Yeah, that babe could knock me around anytime at all," Clint said with a nod, eyes transfixed on her.

He saw Loki turn his head toward them both from his peripheral view before the other boy said, "Are you two seriously salivating over the same woman right now? Is that _really_ a thing that's happening?" His voice was dripping with disbelief and no small amount of disgust.

"So we both have excellent taste," Clint said with a shrug.

"And I can salivate without _salivating_ ," Natasha reminded them both. "That's something I'm perfectly capable of." She looked at them both with a small smirk. "Especially when she looks and moves like that."

Loki hummed. "Poor Laura will be so disappointed when she finally realizes her cutesy Pioneer Woman shtick doesn't even please you aesthetically."

Clint frowned and tried to ignore the inevitable bickering that would surely follow and focus on the show instead.

“Keep it up and _you_ won’t be pleasing _anyone_ aesthetically anymore,” Natasha hissed. Clint told himself he didn't flinch. He also definitely did not question his safety sitting between the two. "Not that you are now."

"Careful with your protests," Loki continued on regardless of her threat, "or some may just draw the wrong conclusions." Clint furrowed his brow and was unable to resist giving Loki a questioning glance. "They may think our sister finds that aesthetic more pleasing than she'd care to admit." Clint's eyes widened and he turned his head sharply to see Natasha's practical death glare.

He sank into his seat a little and, yep, okay, definitely debated moving. Before he could, however, Peter tapped them all on the shoulders from behind. "Dad says if you can't stop whatever it is that's going on then you need to trade seats or something."

Clint sighed in relief when Loki and Natasha glanced at Bruce to see his stern gaze set on them and then complied with his command. "Thank you," he muttered. "The finale is starting and I actually want to enjoy it."

It really wasn't a moment too soon as the music climactic theme music started and costumed soldiers began to move across the stage along with several props. The younger kids in the audience were wowed as a replica of the Flying Wing from the movie was rolled out slowly. Clint had to admit he was more than giddy to see it too.

Suddenly, Indy and Marion ran across the stage toward the plane and climbed onto it. "Marion, don't touch anything!" Indy said, jumping back down and running around the front of the plane to look at it. The stunt actor playing the villain came up behind him while Marion tried to warn him.

Of course he didn't realize what was going on until he was backed up against him. He turned quickly and backed up while the other man yelled up at Marion in German. Indy faked surrender only to throw a good stunt punch. Clint realized he was probably way to into it when he smiled wide at Indy falling back from the punch and rubbing his hand. Then again, everyman heroes were definitely better in his personal opinion.

Suddenly there was fake gunfire and the two stunt doubles reacted by dropping down. That of course led to a reenactment of the scene he was more than familiar with as many times as they'd watched the actual film. Marion got trapped in the cockpit and 'accidentally' started the controls causing the plane to start spinning around. Indy fought the villain again and then jumped onto the ladder of the moving plane. The villain followed causing a fight scene on, under and around the plane to ensue, much of it with Indy getting knocked out while Clint was on the edge of his seat rooting for him even if he already knew how it ended.

The audience gasped and wowed again when, after the villain was killed and Indy was back onto the plane trying to get Marion out, suddenly a trail of fire began to make it's way across the stage. There was a frantic scramble to try and get them both out in time, culminating in Indy shooting the cockpit and helping Marion out when it opened. The two heroes jumped from the plane into the rising flames and then over them, running away just as the plane exploded. The audience gasped again and then cheered as the director yelled cut, ending the scene.

"Hell yeah! Now _that's_ my kind of prince!" Clint said as he applauded. Natasha and Loki turned their heads in sync, practically mirror images with their raised eyebrows and smirks. "What?" He shrugged. "Yeah, I said it."

 

* * *

 

"Okay," Bruce said as he took a drink of his tea, smiling as he did in a way that told Skye he was rather in bliss, "your dad was right."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Skye teased.

Bruce laughed  as they exited the tea store. "Alright, we'll keep it between us, but I'm glad he convinced me to stop in to try it. This _is_ good tea." He smiled again.

"Aww," Skye cooed. She glanced sidelong at him as they waded through the pedestrian traffic to meet back up with the others at the store they were currently browsing as they spent a leisurely morning in Downtown Disney. "It's the smile you get when you're thinking about how much you love my dad." Whenever her dad did something that made Bruce happy, and usually it was the really small gestures like this one, he smiled like that. It was really sweet.

Bruce ducked his head, smiling just a little bit wider and replied, "Yeah, guess it is."

Skye smiled as well. If only she and the others could figure out a way to get Operation: Marriage Proposal really moving, maybe their dads would finally take the ultimate plunge. She knew she shouldn't be antsy about their relationship, but she was. It didn't help that they both seemed to be acting a bit strange around each other lately, her dad especially. It wasn't that they seemed to be falling out of love, but there was something there that she couldn't put her finger on. Natasha had noticed it too. They'd wondered if maybe their dads were in a rut because of so much of their time being spent with them. Thor's idea the day before to encourage them to go spend time together was definitely inspired.

Skye came to a sudden stop, her thoughts scattering, when she realized Bruce wasn't with her anymore. She looked around and then realized he'd stopped a few feet back. There was a deep crease in his brow as he studied something very intently. Skye narrowed her eyes and turned to see what he was looking at. Then her eyes widened at the sight of her dad standing off to one side, just outside of the store, talking to somebody. The somebody's back was turned, but it was very obviously a woman even with the very loose clothing and baseball cap. 

After a moment, the woman walked away, waving as she did, and Skye tried to get a good look at her from the side, but she couldn't before she was obscured by other pedestrians. Tony started toward them, a goofy smile on his face and dazed look in his eyes, but then he stopped short and it fell a little when he noticed them. Skye frowned a little, a lurch in her stomach telling her that something was wrong. She looked at Bruce to see he looked like her stomach felt, sour and suspicious.

"Hey!" Her dad regained his chipper look and hurried over to them. "Guess what?"

"I'm not really in the mood to guess," Bruce said, his tone hesitant.

"Who were you just talking to, dad?" Skye asked the question she knew Bruce would be too diplomatic not to. She was curious too.

"Someone about our reservations," he answered. Skye narrowed her eyes since she'd yet to see any other Cast Member with that particular costume.

"Which brings me to my news. There are lunch openings at either Paddlefish," he thumbed in the direction of the boat restaurant nearby, "or Rainforest Café. And—"

"Tony," Bruce interrupted, "we already have lunch reservations today. At T-Rex, remember? Harley's been talking about this all week. He practically went into spontaneous combustion when we passed it." Skye snorted because that was true. He was a weird kid. "We can't just cancel our reservation there."

Tony's face split open wide with a smile that said he had a surprise up her sleeve and Skye felt her earlier trepidation start to lessen. "Not even if I was able to move our reservation to tonight?" he asked.

Bruce's eyes widened. "Tonight? How? We've been checking the site for months."

"I just went straight to the restaurant to see if there was any last minute openings. Turns out they have tables not listed for reservation on the site and they have enough tables left to accommodate us thanks to another cancellation. Isn't that great!?"

"It won't be if Harley finds out he'll have to wait another seven or eight hours," Skye commented with a snort.

"I... Wow." Bruce seemed at a loss for words. "You know I was looking forward to finally doing IllumiNations tonight," he hedged. Skye felt a little bad because he'd mentioned it a couple times as looking like something really enjoyable and he'd been settling for doing what everyone else wanted for the most part. "But, yeah, wow, that _is_ great," he continued with genuine cheerfulness. Skye smiled again because the way Bruce got excited for her and her siblings was just another reason why she wanted him to be their stepdad.

"Phew, okay, good," Tony said, relieved as they moved toward the store finally, "because I know you really want to do IllumiNations and I know we talked about it. But you know all the reviews said T-Rex is better at night so—"

"It's fine," Bruce assured him. "He's going to be so excited. IllumiNations can wait." He hesitated for a second and then looked down. "Honestly, I think I was mostly just startled for a moment. You see, I could have sworn that you were talking to Jennifer, which of course didn't make any sense seeing as she's in New York."

Skye's stomach lurched and she stopped again as they reached the door of the store. "Huh," her dad said, and his tone sounded just a tad nervous, "she did look like Jen didn't she?"

Skye furrowed her brow and turned to look in the direction the woman had left. She was long gone of course, but Skye had to admit she _had_ looked like Jennifer had in those tabloid photos.

 

* * *

 

 

Thor entered the suite his dad was staying in with the intent of checking on him. They had all come back to the hotel for a rest before they went back out to spend the evening and night at Downtown Disney some more, but a lot of them had gotten restless so Tony had decided to take them mini-golfing while those who still wanted to rest stayed behind. His dad had decidedly been one of the ones who wanted to stay behind and while Thor and the others who'd stayed were relaxing in the other suite, he had holed up alone in this one. Needless to say, Thor was concerned.

He found his father lounging in one of the chairs in the master bedroom with his feet propped up on the footrest and a tablet perched on his lap. However, he wasn't looking at it. His elbow was on the arm of the chair and his chin rested on his fist in a pose that suggested he was deep in thought.

"Father, are you okay?" Thor asked slowly. His dad startled a little and turned his head quickly to look at him.

"Thor? What? Oh, uh, yeah, I was just," he shrugged, "you know. Daydreaming."

Thor gave him a dubious look as he went to sit on the bed. "Why do I get the feeling they weren't pleasant daydreams?"

His dad glanced down at the abandoned tablet and heaved a sigh. "Probably because they weren't."

There was silence for a moment before Thor hazarded, "Are you losing focus again?"

"Hmm?" His dad glanced up again, his eyes focusing as if an answer to his question even if he'd meant it more specifically than that. "Am I losing focus?"

"Like you did with your job," Thor clarified.

"Oh, oh you mean…" His sentence trailed and he furrowed his brow. "Maybe." He sighed heavily again ad Thor thought he sounded weary. "I suppose it could be that," he then said with more deliberation in his tone. "I probably need to take a step back, but in this case I'm just not sure how."

"Dad, I can't understand you if you speak in riddles," Thor said straightforward. "Either you trust me with this or you don't. If you want me to leave I can." Thor folded his hands and glanced down at them. "I'm just worried this has to do with you and Tony."

He risked looking at his dad and saw immediately that it did. It was in the way he looked down, his lips pursed so much that it was clear he was trying to hold in his emotion.

"I don't want you to worry," his dad finally said. "It wouldn't do you any good and I'm plenty capable of worrying enough for all of us if there's a need for it."

"Did something happen?" Thor asked. "You've both seemed a little strange around each other lately."

His dad fixed him with a questioning look. "Strange how?"

Thor had been trying to find a way to put it into words for a couple of weeks now. He hoped now that he was put on the spot he could manage to get his point across. "It's like," he paused and considered each word carefully, "well, like you're so in love with each other that... you've forgotten."

When his dad frowned, Thor immediately worried that he'd gone and messed up anyhow. "Is that why you wanted us to spend time alone?" he asked.

Thor nodded. "Things have been very busy lately. Between birthdays and prom and graduations and Tony not being around because of work, I just don't want you two to forget about each other."

His dad furrowed his brow and then slowly licked his lips. "Thor, be honest with me. Do you think I've been ignoring Tony?" Thor tilted his head. "I mean, um, do you think I've been neglecting him as, well, you know, as a boyfriend? Is that what you mean? That I'm so in love with Tony, but I'm not acting like it anymore?"

"Well, I don't know about that much," Thor answered. "I'm sure you'd act like it more if you weren't so distracted." A light went off in his head. "That's the word I'm looking for. Distracted. You both seem a little distracted lately."

"I—" Bruce sighed. "I suppose I have been a little." He then gave a bitter sounding snort. "The irony," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Dad, is everything going to be okay?" Thor decided to ask after a long lull in the conversation. "You both love each other and that's what matters, right?"

His dad nodded. "Yeah, Thor. That's what matters. We love each other very much and I'm sure you're right that we just need a little rest and to focus on each other instead of our jobs or our capable children or the tabloids." Thor furrowed his brow as his dad got up from his chair. "I think I'll start with a nap," he said, heading over to the bed. Thor stood to his feet and hugged his dad when he held out his arms. "Thank you for the pep talk."

For some reason, as Thor made his way out of the suite, he felt like he actually hadn't done a very good job of the pep talk. One thing that struck him was why his dad would mention the tabloids when him and Tony were constantly telling them to ignore them. Sure, they were nuisances, but nothing that affected them if they didn't let it according to their dads.

Thor pulled his phone as he walked back to the other suite and decided to see what the jerks were trying to say about them now. Maybe they'd gotten mad about them roaming around like other kids and teens at Hollywood Studios like his dad had worried about.

His eyes widened when instead there were new photos of Tony talking to some indistinguishable female with rumors, yet again, that he was cheating. Thor looked back towards his dad's suite. Did he believe them this time?

 

* * *

 

"Yeah, it was so cool and, like, it kept rocking," Harley simulated the motion, "and it was hard to stay in. I started to feel like I was going to get sick," he said with a laugh. His eyes widened as he recalled more. "Oh and then there was this dinosaur that popped up out of nowhere after this _huge_ waterfall and Peter and I screamed like girls." He stopped to take a breath as his dad laughed.

"Sounds like you had fun."

"Told you the scream we heard came from one of ours," Bruce said, laughing as well.

"Two of ours as it turned out," Tony said with a smile. "Guess you were right."

"Well, it's a good thing neither of them were in any actual danger since you weren't even going to budge."

"Okay, one, if they'd been in actual danger my dad senses would have tingled and I would have beaten down other small children standing in the way of getting to them," Tony defended himself and Bruce smiled. "Two, that high score on Galaga was impossibly high. There's just no way. Also, maybe I should buy a Galaga machine for the rec room. Sort of wondering why I haven't before, actually."

"Sweet," Harley cheered at the thought.

"I enjoyed the Fix-It Felix game," Wanda said. "Wish we could buy that one."

"No, no, no, the best part was definitely the Pirates one," Clint said with a shake of his head.

"Yeah, that was really fun," Steve agreed.

"Only you made a horrible Captain," Natasha teased him. "Should have given me that spot, all I'm saying."

"No way. Your methods are too aggressive."

Harley rolled his eyes as they started arguing. He looked to his right and saw the bowling alley. "Hey! Can we go bowling after dinner?"

"We have bowling at home," Darcy said. "Why would we go bowling at Disney?"

"Well, we have shopping at home too," he pointed out. "Why did we have to do so much shopping here?"

"I want to go see Finding Dory again," Jemma said, pointing at the movie theater as they passed it.

A movie at Disney sounded like fun too. "Or Secret Life of Pets!" Harley suggested.

"X-Men," Pietro and Wanda said at the same time.

"I wouldn't mind seeing Ghostbusters," Thor said.

"Of course you wouldn't," Loki said with a snort. "The movie's received horrific reviews."

"Eh, most of them are probably a little sexist," Skye said.

Harley huffed and looked at his dad and Bruce who were seemed to be simultaneously listening to them and having one of those weird adult conversations where they talked without talking. He just shook his head and decided to start walking faster. If he walked faster, maybe the others would and then they'd get to the T-Rex restaurant sooner. It felt like he'd been waiting forever. They could figure out stuff to do after dinner once they were there.

"Oh! Can I build a dinosaur?" Jemma said when they passed the store attached to the restaurant.

"Not now!" Harley suddenly panicked at the thought of everyone stopping to build dinosaurs when they were finally there.

Bruce chuckled and placed a hand on his back, "Relax, she's not going to build a dinosaur. At least, not until after dinner if she or anyone else wants to," he said. Harley let out a sigh of relief. "And I was thinking," Bruce said then when Tony came back over to them from signing in their names so they could be called when their table was ready, "after dinner and after any dino-building, you all can go watch a movie." He looked at Tony. "While your dads have a little adult time."

"Ew, dad, no," Natasha said at the same time Tony said, "Really?"

"Obviously not that kind of adult time," Bruce said with an amused shake of his head. "But," he hitched a shoulder, "I thought it might be sort of nice to just take a stroll around, just the two of us. You know, enjoy the night life and atmosphere a little bit?"

"Hey, you don't even have to ask," Tony said, grinning. "The kids will be perfectly fine at the movies and I will absolutely never ever say no to a date with you." He leaned in and punctuated his statement with a quick kiss to Bruce's lips.

Harley rolled his eyes and let his head fall back on his shoulders. They were in an awesome restaurant with a dinosaur theme and they had to go and be sappy.

 

* * *

 

"Oh, now _that_ is a wonderful color." Darcy giggled as her dad held out his hand in front of him and wiggled his fingers. He then held it up to his face. "Brings out my eyes, wouldn't you say?" He fluttered his eyelashes playfully.

Darcy laughed some more. "Your eyes are brown, dad."

"They are? Aw, man." He sighed dramatically. Then he perked up, his eyes widening. "Well, that's okay because I happen to know Bruce's favorite color is blue so he'll be sure to love them and maybe even me." He winked.

Darcy looked at the nice woman painting her nails and told her, "Bruce is my almost-stepfather so he already loves my dad. He's just being ridiculous. Dads. What can you do, right?"

The woman laughed at her joke and Darcy felt proud. She looked at her dad to see him smiling like he was proud of her too.

"Maybe, but you have a very good dad. Not every father would bring their lovely daughter to be pampered like the princess she is," the woman said. "And he has fashion sense to boot," she teased. "I'd say you and your almost-stepfather must be very lucky to have him."

"Well, I would say it's the other way around," her dad said.

"Oh we are!" Darcy exclaimed before he could continue. "I'm the luckiest princess in the world! Well, along with my other four sisters. I guess we're all tied."

"Four sisters, huh? Sounds like a full house."

Darcy tried to hold back a snicker and looked at her dad to see him covering his mouth to do the same. "You have _no_ idea," Darcy said with a sigh.

 

* * *

 

"That was so, so, so, so much fun!" Jemma was still so excited that she wanted to jump up and down as she, her dad, Wanda and Darcy left the tea room.

"It really was," Darcy agreed.

"I wish we could have tea parties like that every single day," Jemma continued. "Or at least once a week."

Her dad chuckled. "Well, if it were just the four of us I think once a week would be doable. But a tea party for all of us is one of those occasional things."

"Yeah, you were planning the Valentine's Day one for a couple of weeks at least, weren't you?" Wanda asked.

"Yes, but it was worth it," her dad said with a smile. "So it's not off the table as far as ever doing it again."

"Good!" Jemma cheered. "Because I think that's what I want for my birthday. Oh! Maybe we can have it outside like Alice In Wonderland!" She wrinkled her nose as a thought occurred to her. She knew it wasn't for a couple of months, but she was just so excited she couldn't help but ask. "Daddy, can I have an Alice In Wonderland party?"

He looked down at her as they reached the staircase. "That sounds like fun," he said. "We can call it your unbirthday and pretend you aren't growing up."

"Oh daddy." She shook her head at how her dad was always making comments about how he didn't want her to get any older. "Everybody has to grow up."

""I know. I know," he said with a chuckle and sigh at the same time. "But I don't have to like—" Her dad stopped abruptly and Jemma furrowed her brow before turning her head to see what he was looking at. To her surprise her cousin Jennifer was standing a few stairs above them. "Jen?" Her dad looked around and then back at Jennifer. "So I wasn't imagining things. I... I don't... Why are you—" He looked further up the stairs and Jemma looked too. Tony was standing at the top, looking back at them with wide eyes. "Here. Oh." Her dad shook his head and took her hand. "Come on, Jemma. Let's... go somewhere—"

"Oh no," Tony said as they turned back around. Jemma looked at Wanda and Darcy in confusion that they clearly felt too. "No, Bruce, this isn't what it looks like."

Her dad stopped, letting go of her hand and turning to look at Tony, who'd run down the stairs after them. "Really? Okay, first question then, who's watching the rest of the kids? Do you know where they're at?" Bruce crossed his arms in what Jemma knew was his angry pose.

"They're all accounted for. Some are at the pool and Steve's been checking-in every five minutes. The rest are in the suites resting for dinner."

" _Both_ suites?"

"Of course both suites," Tony answered, sounding fruestrated. "Because whatever you think just happened didn't."

"It really didn't, Bruce," Jennifer said, coming down the steps to join them.

Bruce looked back and forth between them and then moved one hand to rub at the side of his head. "I... I want to believe you. Especially you, Jen," he said, sounding sad. Then he got mad again, pointing at Tony with the hand he'd just had on his head. "But _you_ lied to me. You didn't want me to know Jennifer was here. And why _are_ you here?" Bruce looked at Jennifer and she bit her lip, glancing away shyly. That seemed to make her dad even madder. He shook his head. "So how do I know you're not lying now, hmm? Why should I believe you?"

"Okay, yes, you're right. I did… Well, it was more like a half-truth since she was helping with a reservation, but the principal is still the same... But if you'll let me explain—"

"Maybe—" Her dad looked sad again and he whispered, "Maybe you've both been lying this whole time. Maybe I'm an idiot. It wouldn't be the first time." Bruce looked down at Jemma and she frowned because he looked like he was trying not to cry and she didn't want him to be so sad. She didn't understand what her dad thought was going on, but it was obvious that he was mad at Tony and that scared her because she didn't like when they argued, which wasn't a lot – at least not in front of them. "You can stay with them or come with me, but I need to be somewhere else right now," he told her and then started back down the stairs. 

"Bruce!" Jennifer called after him. Jemma didn't know what to do or say or if she should stay or follow.

"Dad, you got to do something!" Wanda said desperately.

"I know, sweetheart, I know," Tony said. "But I don't want to make it worse."

"I don't see how you could," Jennifer said, raising one hand.

"He's obviously in flight mode," Tony countered, "so I don't know that he'd appreciate having his fight instinct triggered in the middle of a hotel lobby."

"But, dad, you have to try," Wanda continued to whine. "We can't lose him!"

Jennifer sighed and wrapped an arm around Wanda's shoulders. "He'll come around."

"This is kind of like Full House," Darcy said and Jemma furrowed her brow because she'd never seen that show even though they all said it came before the Fuller House show they'd watched on Netflix.

For some reason Tony's eyes widened and he hurried after her dad. Jemma started to follow, but Jennifer stopped her.

"I think we should let them work this out between them," Jennifer said. She then led them all three down the stairs and toward some seats.

The whole time Jemma kept her eyes on her dad and Tony. Tony had caught up to him and stopped him on the opposite side of the lobby. Her dad still seemed upset and she could sort of hear them arguing even if she couldn't hear what they were saying over the noise of other people passing through.

"Cousin Jen, why _are_ you here?" Jemma glanced up at her for a second. "And why is daddy so mad that you are?"

She saw Wanda and Darcy look at each other like they knew the answer and didn't want to say. Jennifer smiled kindly and said, "I'm here because Tony had a surprise planned for your dad after dinner tonight and I've been helping him prepare for it. And he also wanted some friends and family here to share the surprise so I'm here and so is Pepper and Happy. And Sam's here as a surprise for Steve. Your daddy is mad because he thinks Tony lied to be mean." Jemma scrunched her face. 

"Look, he's going to the piano!" Wanda said excitedly and Jemma looked back quickly. Tony was sitting down at the piano while her dad was shaking his head no, looking around like they were going to get in trouble, and very obviously telling Tony not to do what he was doing.

"Ladies, gentlemen, princes and princesses," Tony said loudly enough that they could hear, "there's a man in this very lobby that is so perfect that if any of you knew him, you would fall in love with him the way I have." He started playing the piano. "You'd fall in love with him irrevocably because, _he's got a way about him_ ," he started to sing then, looking directly at her dad as he did.

Beside her Darcy squealed while Wanda gave a quiet, "oh my gosh." Jemma smiled wide at how it was just like a fairytale.

" _I don't know what it is, but I know that I can't live without him_."

"Good job, Tony," Jennifer said, clearly pleased, as Tony continued singing the love song. "It's going to be all over the internet, but good job." Jemma looked up at her to see her looking like she was torn between crying and laughing. They were happy tears, Jemma realized.

" _He's got a smile the heals me. I don't know what it is. But I have to_ —" Tony stopped abruptly and Jemma looked back to see if anything was wrong.

The man who had been playing the piano earlier and two other people were talking to him about something as Tony stood to his feet. Jemma saw her dad with his hand on his face, watching through his pointer and middle finger. Then he let it fall and walked over to Tony and grabbed him by his arm. He looked like he was apologizing to the piano player as he dragged Tony away. Then the piano player sat down and started playing the same song. Tony looked back at him with a big smile and Jemma saw him say, "Thank you."

Her dad still looked cross with Tony for a few moments, but he didn't run away again, not even when Tony held his shoulders. "Maybe you should go tell daddy that Tony has a surprise for him," Jemma suggested, looking up at her cousin.

Jennifer gently smoothed her hair and then held the back of her head. "I think that's Tony's place, dear. He needs to fix this. And something tells me he'll be just fine," she said with a smile. Jemma furrowed her brow, but then looked back just in time to see her dad hug Tony.

"Oh thank goodness," Wanda said in relief.

Jemma nodded and smiled wide when they kissed. There was even some applause from other people in the lobby who had seen everything.

"Alright, girls," Jennifer said, "I think maybe we should finally let them be alone. How about we go up to your room and look at what outfits you brought along. Something tells me you might want to wear your nicest one for Tony's surprise."

Jemma's eyes widened and she glanced back over her shoulder as Jennifer led them away. She wondered what Tony's surprise was.

 

* * *

 

The fireworks began to light up the night sky as the IllumiNations show began. Bruce had wanted to see it more than anything else at the parks, but he hadn't expected it to be like this. He'd never counted on the fact that Tony had reserved them an entire small pavilion and even gotten them the Dessert Party package, knowing well by now about Bruce's sweet tooth. He'd never counted on Tony going through all this trouble just to surprise him.

Bruce took a look around at how happy all of their kids were as they watched the fireworks in the private space or feasted on more desserts. He saw the way Steve and Sam clung to each other like it had been months since they'd last seen each other, an additional nice surprise. All of it made the experience so much better as the show continued.

"This has been so perfect," Bruce said after several long minutes of relishing in watching. He sighed and felt  a lingering pang of guilt. He looked away and at Tony. "I don't know how I could even imagine..."

Tony looked at him quickly and then turned a little to face him. "Hey, it's fine. I... It's my fault," he said. "I never imagined you would think..." He sighed and looked pained. "That's the absolute last thing I wanted and I'm still sorry I hurt you even a little. In retrospect I realize I probably should have handled the surprise a little bit better."

"Maybe," Bruce agreed in a tentative fashion, "but..." He glanced at the fireworks display, unable to meet Tony's eyes as he considered it for the hundredth time since earlier that evening. "What does it mean if my first thought was to assume the worst? I suspected you in spite of everything you've done so far. I... I betrayed your trust in that way. I don't... I don't like that."

"Bruce, you're being too hard on yourself as usual." Bruce looked back at him to see his softened expression. "We both know that you had every right to be suspicious all things considered. The timing was... bad. With the tabloids making a big deal about the incident at the jewelry store and my, well, poor choice to lie to hide the surprise..." Tony shook his head. "You're allowed to have a normal human reaction, Bruce."

"But you deserve better, Tony. Our relationship deserves better."

"Okay, and you deserve better too," Tony countered. Bruce furrowed his brow. "You deserve to believe that no matter what those people say or what it looks like, you are more than enough for me now and always."

"That may be a tall order," Bruce said with a rueful smile, but his heart appreciated the sentiment.

Tony fixed him with an intense gaze, the one that told Bruce he was about to do something and Bruce furrowed his brow in advance. "Well, maybe I can help you out a little." Tony then smile and took a few steps back toward the center of the pavilion. "Hey, everyone assemble," he called out. Everyone looked at him immediately, confusion on their faces, before gathering around. Bruce looked at Tony and then met Jennifer's gaze. She had a knowing smile on her face. "I have something very," Tony turned and looked at Bruce, "very, very important I want to say."

Bruce's eyes widened, clarity striking him like lightning, right before Tony dropped down to one knee and pulled out a ring box. "Oh god." He choked on a disbelieving laugh, or maybe it was a surprised sob, and repeated, "Oh my god." There were cheers and awed reactions from everyone watching.

"The moment we ran into each other," Tony started and then added playfully, "quite literally..." Bruce gave a soft laugh, not trusting his ability to do anything more than that without crying already. "…you changed my life. You made me feel things I hadn't felt in years. You did the impossible. You made me want to start over." Tony paused, smiling up at him. "Even if logic said we had thirteen reasons why that would be absolutely insane." Bruce laughed as did most of the others. "Well, screw logic because I wouldn't give up our insanity now that we've found it." Tony opened up the ring box then and suddenly the reality of the moment started to sink in. In the cushion was a wedding band with a string of small, alternating diamonds and, perhaps sapphires as the gems were blue. Bruce didn't have to count them to know there were thirteen of them. "In fact, every single day since that first moment I've fallen more in love with you. So in love that I can't imagine another day of my life spent without you. I don't ever want to leave home again without you there waiting for me when I return. I don't just love you, Bruce Banner. I want you. I need you. I adore you." Tony's voice wavered with emotion and his smile turned watery. "And I would be lost without you. So, would you make me the happiest man on Earth by agreeing to marry me?"

Bruce let out a shuddering breath and quickly moved both of his hands to his face, cupping his mouth. First, to hold back his emphatic _yes_ and, then, to hide the smile that he knew would give him away in an instant. Instead of saying anything right away he continued to look down at Tony, waiting until he saw the tell-tale sign of concern leak through Tony's confident facade.

Then, he took a deep breath and let his hands fall. "Tony..." He looked around at everyone else in an uncertain manner before looking back at Tony in a sharp motion. "I..."

Tony's eyes narrowed and he shot to his feet. "Bruce?" Before he could say anything further, Bruce dropped down to one knee. Tony's eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open. "You— You troll!" he exclaimed in realization, shaking his head and giving a pleased smile.

"Sorry to ruin the moment," Bruce said with a nervous chuckle and hitch of his shoulder.

"You didn't," Tony replied, still smiling.

Bruce took a breath and continued. "It's just... I already planned my speech."

"You had a proposal speech planned?" Tony asked in disbelief, not that Bruce held it against him.

Bruce nodded. "I did."

"Way to go, Bruce," Jennifer cheered.

"Of course, you’re a little ahead of me, not that I'm surprised. I hadn't considered a ring yet and... And I wasn't sure of the when or where, but," he looked up at the fireworks display as they continued and then around at their children, "I guess this is a pretty great venue." He looked back up at Tony and took another breath, letting his face become serious with all of the overwhelming emotion he felt. "Simply put, I love you, Tony." He shook his head as he continued, "But there's absolutely nothing simple about it. It's more complex than quantum physics. I love you so much that it terrifies me because I used to think I could never love someone like I love you. That kind of love didn't exist. I used to think that my kids were all there would ever be and I was okay with that," he said, his voice wavering for a second. "Only, it was like I was trying to do the math for years, and it was fine, I was making progress, but I couldn't find the solution because I was missing seven key variables and didn't even know it. Then I met you." Bruce swallowed hard as tears stung his eyes. "A man who makes me want to take crazy chances. A man who believes in me. A man with six wonderful children he cherishes. A man who loved someone else with his whole heart and still looks at me like I'm the most captivating person he's ever met, like I'm the only one he's ever had eyes for. A man who…" He paused, swallowing again and smiling wider. "A man who reminded me that I don't have to be only a scientist and father. I can be a lover too. And a man who's shown me that being a scientist is more than about how smart I am and that being a father is even more rewarding when I'm able to share this adventure with him. I love you so much that it terrifies me, but I'm done letting fear hold me back. You exist as my proof that I was wrong and I would be wrong not to go on loving you for as long as you'll have me." Bruce glanced down for a second and then back up again. "So, yes. This is me saying absolutely, yes. I will marry you. And although I now already know the answer, will _you_ make _me_ the happiest man on Earth?"

"I will do everything in my power to make that so," Tony answered with a bright, emotional smile and held out his hand. Bruce took it and Tony pulled him up to stand. "Starting with yes. Absolutely yes."

They melted into each other, lips meeting perfectly – tender and desperate all at once – and taking Bruce back instantly to that first kiss when his world had finally come completely into focus. He was only marginally aware that there were fireworks exploding overhead, louder and louder as if growing to a climax, and that there were people cheering and applauding as his love for Tony and the happiness he felt at that moment consumed him and made reality feel like a far off place. Only this _was_ reality and that made it all the better, he mused just as he pulled away to breathe and let out a giddy laugh that bubbled up before he could stop it.

Tony laughed too and pulled him even closer into a giddy hug. When they pulled back again they looked at each other for a long moment, just smiling. Then gravity pulled them towards each other for another kiss. Their lips had only just brushed lightly when there was a clearing of a throat, forcing them apart enough to realize their children were looking at them.

"In light of this unexpected development," Steve started, looking at both of them with a solemn shake of his head, "we just have one thing we'd like to say." He looked at the others and then back with a wide smile.

All at once the kids shouted, "You have our permission!"

Another laugh bubbled forth and Bruce looked at Tony to see it was mutual. Then he flung out an arm, Tony following suit. Without any need to say a word, the kids rushed over to hug them. As the fireworks came to an end and cheers rang out from others nearby in the park, Bruce mused, fleetingly, that somehow his life had become more magical than a Disney movie and this was only the very beginning of their family's happily ever after.

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise! [Pietro voice] Bet you didn't see that coming! Okay you probably did even though I didn't tag it just in case. Do you know how long I've had this planned? Since the moment the kids opened the book and saw tickets to Disney in the Christmas fic. In my head I was like, yep, proposal fic. 
> 
> I've got a lot of notes, so let's dive right in here:  
> 1\. Wanda loves Full House and Michelle because obviously! (aka shoutout to Elizabeth Olsen & her sisters)  
> 2\. Natasha being anti-princess is not to be taken as the author's views on princesses please and thanks! (also that in addition to the goading from Loki is a shout out to the weirdness of Natasha being jealous of Laura's wispy, fairy, barefoot and pregnant, traditional female personality...only reworked so that it's not necessarily jealousy rather unexpected affection in spite of her usual apathy for that type of girl)  
> 3\. Poor Jane. She definitely gets the shortest end of the short sticks in this fic. I wanted to include at least one small section for each kid to have a pov of their various activities and, like, I was admittedly stuck with Jane so yeah.  
> 4\. Technically I don't know that Bruce and Tony would qualify for Rider Swap since Jemma is likely above the height requirement for all the rides.  
> 5\. So um we can just pretend like Hollywood Studios isn't a complete disaster of a construction zone right now? And like I'm so mad that this fic takes place _after_ Lights, Motor, Action ended.  
>  6\. They can call it Disney Springs all they want tbh, but it's still Downtown Disney to me.  
> 7\. RIP Disney Quest. You weren't for everyone and totally outdated, but I'll miss you. I'll keep you in my memories, like all the times I squealed or screamed at that damn dinosaur like I didn't know it was coming.  
> 8\. The kid who plays Harley in Iron Man 3 is in Jurassic World (with Star-lord to boot!), hence making him into dinosaurs lol. Also I just wanted a reason to feature T-Rex because I'm also a child who made embarrassing raptor noises when I went there.  
> 10\. Wanda and Pietro said X-Men for obvious reasons. And Chris Hemsworth was in Ghostbusters. Lmao at me doing the most with these references.  
> 11\. Thor, bless his heart, he tried. But he of course only made Bruce's sudden insecurities worse and made him think he needed to try harder to keep Tony interested. (And wow Bruce Tony like obsessed with you, how can you get insecure about this!?**)  
> 12\. Yeah tbh I don't know if a parent (especially a father) can get their nails painted alongside their kid in the Prince or Princess Manicure offered at Grand Floridian's Senses as I've, you know, never been in a position to find out. So let's just go with it. This is still fiction ;)  
> 13\. I know Tony and Bruce's fight and subsequent makeup being limited to Jemma's pov means we don't get to hear how Tony smoothed it over, but essentially he told Bruce the truth, or at least the part about wanting to surprise him with the Dessert Party + IllumiNations while still omitting the whole truth (I had a deleted bit from Bruce's pov, but I liked it better from Jemma's because of her innocence/objectivity in the matter.)  
> 14\. Tony playing the piano and declaring his love to get Bruce to stop mid-flight is of course a reference to Full House (which I may have watched that episode when writing this oops). I couldn't resist since I'd already established Tony as a piano player/singer in this verse. Of course the song isn't the same. Instead I went with "She's Got A Way" by Billy Joel, with a pronoun change. (It was almost an Ally McBeal reference with Tony singing "Every Breath You Take" but that song's more creepy than romantic + didn't fit very well here for what it needed to do, imo.)  
> 15\. THE RING. Yes Tony was picking out a ring at the jewelry store with Jen's help - aka she's been the true conspirator since she knew both men's motives. And the reason why Tony asked Bruce's favorite color was because... he wanted an idea for the ring (and yes men do, and imo all should, wear diamond wedding bands).  
> 16\. And shout out to **ikilledabuginthewall** who previously commented "they'll probably end up both on their knees at the same time at this rate lol" because while not quite at the same time, it was always planned that there would be a double proposal speech. 
> 
> **How could Bruce get insecure about this indeed? I've been thinking about doing a snippet collection of the little things not in need of their own standalone pieces, and one would address this. But in case you want to know now, essentially Bruce is a little more jumpy and anxious with his plan to propose so the smallest thing made him worry he might actually be misjudging, since we know how he can get. Similarly the 'distraction' or 'strangeness' the kids were noticing was ironically them both wanting to officially bring up marriage, but tiptoe-ing around it.


End file.
